Condition of Child Marriage in Nepal

A report entitled ‘Ending Child marriage – progress and
prospects’ which was released by UNICEF during the ongoing first
ever Girl Summit in London, highlighted that Nepal has the ninth
highest prevalence of child marriage in the world with one in
every three child brides living in the country.

Nearly 18% of women aged 20 to 49 years were married before age
of 15 while about 34 % of women were married or in union after
age 15 but before they turned 18 in Nepal, the report
highlighted.

“In Nepal, over one third of women aged 20 to 24 who married
before their 15th birthday had three or more children compared to
one per cent of women who married as adults. Child brides are
also less likely to receive proper medical care while pregnant”,
said the report.

Niger, Bangladesh, Chad, Mali, Central African Republic, India,
Guinea, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso and Nepal are the top 10 countries
with the highest rate of child marriage respectively, the UN
children’s agency said in its report.

“Girls who wed under 18 are less likely to be in school and more
vulnerable to domestic violence and maternal mortality, the
report said, adding South Asia is home to almost half (42 per
cent) of all child brides worldwide and India alone accounts for
one third of the global total”, the report said.

The Girl Summit jointly organized by UK government and UNICEF
aims to tackle female genital mutilation and child marriage as
UNICEF predicted there could be 280 million girls who are
compelled to be brides before 18.

During the Summit, 20 governments including Nepal, endorsed
charter which states “No one should be forced into marriage, or
made to marry while still a child or no girls or women should
have to endure the physical and psychological effects of female
genital mutilation.”